Cross-sectional seroprevalence study of peste des petits ruminants in goats in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Abstract

This cross-sectional study describes the seroprevalence of peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in goats in Andaman and Nicobar (AN) Islands, India during 2017–2018. A total of 392 goat serum samples were collected from 36 epidemiological units (epi-units) using a stratified random sampling procedure and were screened for PPR virus (PPRV) antibody using an indigenously developed PPR monoclonal antibody-based competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) assay. The resultsshowed thatthe overall1.28% (0.01-0.03 at95%confidenceinterval) and 1.39% apparent and true prevalence of PPRV antibodies in goats in the studied region. Further, a few samples from five epi-units have only shown marginal positive (percentage inhibition (PI) value ranged from 40.4 to 48.0) for PPRV antibodies with less than 30% seroprevalence in all the tested epi-units in the study region.The findinginfersthatthegoatpopulationintheregionaregenerallyfreefromPPRVantibodies,asthere wereneitherPPRoutbreaksreportednorPPRvaccinationstrategiespracticedingoatsinANIslands.Further,the PPR immune protection in goats is almost nil, when compared with the mainland of India, where the disease is enzootic withvaryingpercentageofseroprevalence andpopulationimmunity isbeingreported.Thisis firstofits kind on the prevalence study of the PPRV antibodies in goats in a unique niche of AN archipelago of India.